Five alternatives to Here Maps on Windows Mobile

On Tuesday, Here announced that by EOH (end of the half of 2016), their mapping system would no longer be available on Windows – either phones or desktop.

Considering that the maps had incorrect information (such as SC Route 78, when no such thing exists), it is not as big of a loss the Windows phone community is making it out to be.

Below the fold are five alternatives – both free and paid – to Here Maps:

T-Mobile has updated their coverage map, and some Barnwell County LTE shows up as verified

For those who have been following T-Mobile ever since July 2013 (like yours truly), you can see the improvements they have done first-hand on their new maps.

However, there is still work to be done, especially along US 78 east from the Williston Town Limits to Elko.

The maps below show that some 4G LTE is creeping into Barnwell County, but not in any incorporated community.

In a press conference on Monday, T-Mobile called this map the “next-gen” map.  It shows near real-time customer experiences on the T-Mobile & MetroPCS networks based on “200 million actual customer usage data points every day”. The map also includes usage data from third party sources, including Inrix, a company which specializes in network analytics.

The new map includes:

• “Customer-verified coverage” which is base on real-world customer usage. This results in a more transparent and accurate map which should show exactly where you can expect 4G LTE, 4G HSPA+, 3G or other coverage levels.
• “Verified Coverage” icon – This icon indicates areas where most of the coverage data is provided by T-Mobile customers reporting actual, real-life network experiences. T-Mobile hopes this will help add more confidence in the data on its coverage maps.  This is not available on MetroPCS at this time.
• Regular updates – T-Mobile will update the data on both its map and MetroPCS’s map twice every month, so that it’s as up to data as you can expect. And will certainly be the most up to date coverage map offered by any US carrier.
• Lastly – Speed test data from trusted third party apps will show average download speeds from customer speed tests over the last 90 days.

And just for the hell of it, here’s MetroPCS’s maps of Williston. The magenta has been replaced with a cobalt blue-like color for MetroPCS.

Call this taking the guesswork out of coverage.

T-Mobile Prepaid Coverage Map
MetroPCS Coverage Map